Demonstrative adjectives. Nominative case
- We use demonstrative adjectives when we want to point
(demonstrate) to a particular person or thing:
This car is mine.
That book is yours.
These children are ours.
Those people are Russian.
- Demonstrative adjectives go in front of the noun that they point
to.
- Russian makes no distinction between demonstrative adjectives
and pronouns. They are used as adjectives when they are in front of
a noun, and as pronouns when they replace a noun.
- In Russian, demonstrative adjectives (and pronouns) agree in
gender, number and case with the noun they modify or replace.
- Demonstrative adjectives answer the questions "which one" and
"which ones".
- The demonstrative adjectives in Russian are:
gender | adjective | example |
masculine | этот | Этот дом мой. |
feminine | эта | Эта газета моя. |
neuter | это | Это письмо твоё. |
plural | эти | Эти дети наши. |
- It is very easy to confuse the word это, which means "this/that is"
and "these/those are", with the neuter form of the demonstrative
adjective, because they look the same.
- The word это never changes its form, and its English translation always includes some form of the verb 'to be' :
This is my house vs. This house is mine.
These are our books vs. These books are ours.
- The sentences on the left will use the word это. The sentences
on the right will use a demonstrative adjective, and will agree in
gender and number with the following noun.